Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Thursday, December 4, 2008

What is the most beautiful thing about Disco-Music written for a ballet?
You (imagine being the performing artist) don't have to care too much about the masses spread across the globe's dancefloors yearning for cheap hooks and stupid refrains (not that I don't fall for them...). Instead you may care about the MUSIC an make it something unique. I'm incredibly happy that Monsieur Petit got that chance to produce this LP along with some well known (at least for all you Discodiggers) musicians such as Andre Ceccarelli, Piere-Alain Dahan and Jean Schultheis in 1980(what a wonderful year!).
Jean Claude Petit is really going wild on various instruments (see Discogs for the LIST of synths, sequencers and keyboards JCP used) and I therefor praise him. I wanted to write a bit about the songs included, but to be honest I don't where to start and how to reduce it to a bit then. So I quit losing words and move to the point. Due to the fact that this quite rare LP unfortunately has not been reissued wether on CD nor LP I don't have any pangs of conscience to post this beautiful piece of music here or here

I hope you like it!
Cheers,
Basso

P.S. A million thanks to T. and V. for bringing this into my world. Rocko's the name!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Bliss is the word. Just imagine it was summer.... I can tell you this lovely LP works pretty nice with some sand under your feet............. Here's Suzanne Ciani's first LP from 1982. A trip and a peaceful one. I would have called her a new age pianist, if I didn't read a tiny bit about her work.... so now I'll call her a classical music composer. Anyway - this one is out on CD, so I won't keep the link up for a long time. There's also a bunch of used LPs to be found in the web! I hope you guys understand that I won't react to reupping requests after a week or two. I just want to promote wonderful stuff like this.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Okay the picture may not fit the music, but I had to ....... I usually don't post single tracks, but in this case (and maybe a few more in the future) I'll make an exception. I do this because I just found another copy of an LP that I almost forgot about. Strange enough, because one of the LP's tracks always accompagnied me (on my mp3 player) for almost 4 years now. Unfortunately I didn't name that mp3 properly. It just said "Tender Storm" and every time I lisened to it I was tenderly blown away. And every time I listened to it I thought "You'll hav to go through your records to find out what this is" and of course forgot about that a minute later. Yesterday I saw a copy of an LP that I already had (at a decent price) and listened to it. You already guessed it: There it was. "Tender Storm" on Snowball's (Kristian Schultze, Curt Cress, ....) Defroster LP from 1977. I love it!!!!!

PS. Four years ago I placed this ca. 150x150x150 cm sized snowball on the localdoggy lawn in the town I studied. It was then coloured by several four-legged artists.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

I am proud to have my first guest on the growing bin.
My man Cesare, a heavy collector, pulled the huge "cosmic secrets" drawer and picked a bunch of wild tracks for our listening pleasure. You'll find a tracklist for this eclectic mix in the folder. But always remember: listen first, then check the names.

So here we are:Strange and cold - compiled with love by Cesare Barbetta - Lecce (Italy)

Sunday, September 7, 2008

The title of this post was translated from german and I got it from the info-sheet that came with the LP. It included a very straightforward letter from Mrs. Dobiey, adressed to the listener. I'll translate this another day ............ I hope you can read the text on the back cover, so lazy Basso doesn't have to type all the names like Kolonovits, Daansen & Pfannmüller that might make you curious about this here LP. It was recorded in Frankfurt about 1981 and is pretty interesting ; )
Please leave a comment if you know her personally! Also leave a comment if you don't!
cheers,
Basso

Friday, July 25, 2008

I hope the picture of the back cover is good enough to get an idea of the instrumentation of this album. The Fichter brothers recorded it in Bruno Spoerri's studio where they probably found a LOT of electronic equipment to play with. And how lovely they played. Listen to "Dreamworld's Symphony" and fly to DREAMWORLD.........

Sunday, June 15, 2008

The two of my turntables didn't spin at the same time for ages ... ... After finding some lovely LPs on the fleamarket yesterday morning something bit me and I blew of the dust of the left MarkII. In the beginning it wasn't working too well, but after a few more minutes I was in it and it was fun. It's LIKE CYCLING - once you got it ......... so here's something like a Megamix of my favourite Michael Rother jams.Enjoy!

Friday, May 30, 2008

What about snakes and mice?
Wolfgang Maus plays bass on my favourite LP.
On top of that he produced this peace of heaven called
"Children of the Universe". Thanks a lot, Mr. Maus.
You're the "Master of the Universe"!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Damn it! There's cheese on the dancefloor - again!
Ralf Nowy (Lucifer's Dream, Ralf Nowy Group, Methusalem) along with some usual suspects like Kristian Schultze, Curt Cress and Dave King has served some straight & cheesy disco. Quite different from the incredible Methusalem/Empire album, but still worth a listen. If you dig the Roots LP incl. "Sophisticated" and "Son of a son of a sheik" this one's for you........

Saturday, May 10, 2008

I don't like tracks containing the word "Dance" in the title or refrain.
Not at all!! That's why I almost passed on this Montreal Disco LP here.
But there's a "Pistolero" that made me "Shake".............

Friday, May 2, 2008

Quite a few years back this LP opened my ears to the Big Band Sound. That doesn't mean this is a typical Big Band LP. Have a look at the lineup and you know it's not (there are lots of Rhythm Combination & Brass guys involved). It is in fact something inbetween and it features the lovely voice of Mark Murphy.

Here's two in one 1976 albums for lovers of the good old "funky piano trio".

First up another rare german indiejazz gem - Ken Rhodes' "Profile" on Amayana.
Please note that this LP is posted fpr promotional purpose only. If you like it, visit Heinz Ulm's (big chief of Amayana) website here:
http://www.amayana.com/index.html and buy original & unplayed copies of "Profile" at a decent price.

Next up a record that can probably be found in every third bargain bin in the U.S. -
David Baker on Jamey Abersolds playalong label. Some of the tracks sound a little sterile, but I guess that's the thing with play-along-bop. The outstanding track is the funky " Le miroir noir". If anyone is interested in the notesheet.....

Still active Bruno Spoerri's "Voice of Taurus" has been recorded in 1978 for Gold records. Spoerri, using a whole lot of electronic devices, is accompanied by Walter Keiser and Curt Treier on Drums. Due to Finders Keepers 2006 release of Glückkugel the almighty Mr. Spoerri has received at least a little attention.
"Voice of Taurus" is my favourite Spoerri LP, although I have to admit that the live album "Sound of the Ufos" featuring Reto Weber has some "nice" moments as well. This one here is a pretty nice monster. You'd probably say: all killer no filler!
I say: Something for everyone! Humorous synth workouts alongside cosmic-disco-not-disco tracks.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

"Bock haben" - "to be up for something" / "to have appetite"I am up for Elektronik. People label this kind of electronic music as Berlin School.Klaus Schulze in fact produced this 1980 album and also had an immense impact on Mr. Bock. Nevertheless Bock's doing his own thing. Epic electronics! The title track builds up slow then smashes wagneriesque into your ears with the help of Brad Howell (drummer of Supermax & Chilly). Herk Hobb (???) plays the drums on the 4 remaining tracks on the flipside. Great job.

I really believed I'd never find the original. But I did and it's yours now.Indeed a very groovy (maybe even a little spiritual) LP on the small Trend label recorded in 1976. Very listenable all the way through. Heavenly if you're into flutes and synths. There used to be a reissue in the late nineties - I hope it's still available. If so: go out and buy it.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

What is Space Funk? "It's all about the synths" - I guess.
Here's 3 Zips packed with what I call Space Funk. With this selection I'm trying to chracterize a highly subjective definition of something (ehhm). I don't claim this definition to be any kind of "official", it's just a couple of tunes really. Don't expect too much - it's a mix of Jazz, Funk and Disco ; ) But nevertheless please have a listen and then TELL ME WHAT'S MISSIN!!! For real - I know that there must be a whole lot of music that may fit into my definition of Space Funk and I have never heard that, heard about that or forgot about it. So please do me a favour and tell me what I'm missing, folks!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

One more of those darn Calig LPs.
I recently left a link for this one at Jazz-Nekko's Pit,
but there were no proper cover-photos with it.
Now after a short shooting session here's my favourite
Tomasz Stanko LP just for you.

"Schlüssel" is the german word for key. It's the one that unlocks the door.
Another german word for key is "Taste". It's a part of the piano.
There's not much info about Key in the net (my first time using this common phrase), so I'll have to work with whats' given on the backcover. Key consists of 5 very young musicians. My guess is that they all are students at that time. The leading figure seems to be Markus Stockhausen, son of Karl Heinz Stockhausen, and he's 20 years old when recording that particular album. Actually he's the only one of the group I have ever heard about, but as you probably know my knowledge is very limited. The liner notes by Manfred Schoof report about an exciting and interesting young group ..... all compositions were written by members of the group ...... group of great promise....
The only thing I might add is that I like this LP because of the playful variation of styles. Even within the tracks. "Please be good to me" starts off rather powerful switches into funky and slips into a more loveboatish Bob James part.
My favourites are the modal "Birds flying" and the free ballad "Rheda".
It's yours.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

After having released 5 LPs as the "Dave Pike Set" on MPS certain changes in the group led to the "New Dave Pike Set". Eberhard Weber replaces Johann Rettenbacher on Bass and Marc Hellmann takes over Peter Baumeister's job on drums. On their first and last release they are accompagnied by a brazilian rhythm group the "Grupo Baiafro". Due to the pictures in the foldcover the Baiafros are having fun, while Dave and his Teutonic Jazzmen are looking dead serious (especially der olle Kriegel), but that's pictures only.
Listen to what they did....

Friday, March 7, 2008

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

May I present Supersempfft's 2nd LP called "Metaluna" released on the private Wunderwerke Label in 1981. Other than the Roboterwerke and Futurist LPs released on CBS and RCA this album does not feature discoid pre techno tracks but reaggae, calypso and soca influenced electronics unlike anything else in the world of music. Performed by mastermind Dieter Kolb and the drummachine's inventor Franz Knüttel with the help of Franz Aumüller's creative genius (he's responsible for the incredible cover art).
This is freaked out shit!
Anyone interested in this?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Maybe? Best is "Piano Jazz from Chechoslovakia" PLUS a lovely pilsener
as I'm celebrating it right now. You have to know that Piano jazz is just my thing.
I am a big fan of Ahmad Jamal, Carla Bley, Wofgang Dauner, Friedrich Gulda,
Lalo Schifrin, Duke Pearson, Krzystof Komeda, Joe Zawinul, Mary Lou Williams and of course Oscar Peterson and all the other great guys (such as Jan Hammer, Ladislav Gerhardt, RudolfRokl, Josef Blaha, Karel Ruzicka & Ludek Svabensky) and for me this LP is heaven!
I bought it because of Jan Hammer. I was pretty amazed when I heard his "Malma Maliny" LP on MPS from 1969 because it is quite different from "Tubbs & Valery". I was as amazed when I heard these recordings here - he's so fresh! as we described HipHop acts in the early 90ies.
So are his czech comrades. It is hard to pick a favourite. Every track is different (the pilsener is working by now) an of course brilliant. But decisions have to be made and so I pick "Made in Tunesia" which will soon be a favourite among Compact Disc Jockeys and "Swingin" that is finished right now. Děkuij!

Monday, February 18, 2008

The Crew's 3rd release on Calig featuring Lauren Newton.
There's a lot more freedom in here and it's not my cup of tea.
But ( and this is a very big but) "Bouillabass" is a monster of a tune
and I like "Flying Bird" just as much (check out KEY's same titled LP
from 1977 on Calig including the wonderful "Birds Flying").
Please understand that I cannot say too much about the rest of the tracks
except from "great instrumentation" or "interesting structures" and a "voice".

Back to Jazz. Here's the Frederic Rabold Crew plus Martin Ederer on guitar
from 1974. Lots of energy coming from a drawer somewhere between funky and free. Released on the small Calig (Caritas Lichtbild Gesellschaft) Label from Munich that released incredible LPs like Tomasz Stanko's "Purple Sun", two LPs by Milan Pilar's infamous Catch Up, a rather free Wolfgang Dauner album and three great LPs by Frederic Rabold and his men (later accompanied by Lauren Newton and her voice gives me a strange feeling in the back of my head so I'll not be mentioning her further on).
This is the Crew's 2nd release on Calig, "Flair" from 1972 being the 1st and "Balance" from 1977 the 3rd. (I am still missing "Flair"- offers welcome). As far as I know the Crew's output this is my favourite FRC album. There are 3 more LPs I used to have (one was silverish, one yellow and one on MPS and that tango wasn't too funky) but I got rid of them some years ago.
Back to what I like: every track on this gem (except from "Time Machine")!
Enjoy.